SKHICORNIS. 



297 



Mr. W. M. Thomas presented to the Trustees of the Australian Museum five nests of this 

 species attached to one another, built on a long vine which he found in December, 1897, 

 growing under a rock shelter near the Macquarie Pass in the Illavvarra District. This is a 

 most unusual site for this species to build in, and, judging by the different appearance and 

 condition of the nests, it had probably been resorted to by the same pair of birds year after 

 year. The entrance to two of the nests was blocked up by the others being built against them, 



and in one, of which I was able 

 to e.xamine the interior, I found 

 several pieces of egg-shell. 



The eggs are two or three in 

 number for a sitting. On the 

 Richmond and Clarence Kivers 

 seldom more than two are laid, 

 but about Ourimbah I found 

 more nests witli three eggs than 

 1 did with two. They vary much 

 in shape, size, and colour, even 

 when found in nests near one 

 another. Ovals, elongate-ovals, 

 and swollen o\"aIs are common, 

 and among the latter type may 

 be found specimens tapering 

 sharply towards both ends; the 

 shell is close-grained, and its 

 surface smooth and glossy. In 

 ground colour they vary from 

 pale chocolate-brown to almost 

 pure white with a tinge of choco- 

 late-pink, and as a rule are lighter 

 in colour on the smaller end; 

 some have a faint slaty shade in 

 the ground colour; occasionally, 

 in others, it is as nearly dark as is 

 found in the eggs of PyrrholiTniHS 

 brnniuus. On the larger end is 

 almost invariably a zone or cap 

 formed of clouded markings of a 

 ilistinctly darker shade than the 

 ground colour. In a very dark 

 set of two, taken by me at 

 Ourimbah, on the 27th Novem- 

 ber, igoi, the larger ends are a 

 uniform dark slaty-brown. This 

 set measures: — Length (A) 0-93 x 0-67 inches; (B) o"95 x 0-7 inches. Another set of three, 

 taken on the same day in a nest close by, measures: — Length (A) 1-05 x 077 inches; (B) 1-03 

 xo-73 inches; (C) I'Oj x 0-74 inches. 



Nidification, which I had many opportunities of observing, is performed by the female 

 alone, and usually occupies about eleven days. The nest is shaped as the work proceeds, there 

 is no thin skeleton or framework made first, to be filled in afterwards. \'iewing the nest from 

 Aa-.:o 



NKST OF THK YKLI.OW-THROATKD .SCRUIi WREN. 



